1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clip applier and, more particularly, to a clip applier for clamping one or more ligating clips simultaneously.
2. Description of Related Art
During a surgical operation, a temporary ligating of the blood vessels is usually applied to prevent bleeding of blood vessels, and some tools for such operations have been developed to assist the ligation of the blood vessels. Commonly, for example, a clip applier is used first to pick up a ligating clip, and then blood vessels are ligated by the ligating clip upon the ligating clip being clipped/deformed by the clip applier.
Reference with FIG. 1, a conventional clip applier 10 for clamping ligating clips is shown, which comprises: a first clip unit 10a having a first handle 11a at one end and a first jaw unit 12a at another end; and a second clip unit 10b having a second handle lib at one end and a second jaw unit 12b at another end. Hence, the ligating clip 21 packed on the clip cartridge 30 can be brought up from the clip cartridge 30 by the first jaw unit 12a and the second jaw unit 12b of the clip applier 10.
Though the clip applier described above is advantageous in its simple structure and is easily manufactured, when applied to the surgical operations, the clip applier described above cannot be easily handled. In detail, when using the clip applier for clipping blood vessels, two ends of the blood vessel should be clipped sequently by using the clip applier with the ligating clips (in which the ligating clips should be brought up from the clip cartridge and then two positions arranged at the two sides of the cutting position of the blood vessel are clipped with those ligating clips). Then, a cutting tool such as a surgical blade is used to cut the blood vessel at the appropriate location. However, considering the above method, a lengthy operating time is involved due to the complex steps for the clipping and cutting of the blood vessels, which is restricted with those inconvenient tools.